Chelsea manager Antonio Conte: ‘Diego Costa is the past’

The Spain international is currently refusing to return to Chelsea after being informed at the end of last season that he was not in the plans of Conte entering the 2017-18 campaign.

Costa revealed earlier this week that he is desperate to return to Atletico Madrid this summer, but feels that Chelsea are pricing him out of a departure .

The 28-year-old recently gave an explosive interview to the Daily Mail where he confirmed that he would not be returning to Chelsea, but Conte has laughed off the striker’s outburst.

“It is great. I can tell you that everyone who works in Chelsea knows very well what happened with him last season. It’s funny, this interview. I’m not interested to continue this issue. He is the past,” Conte told reporters.

Costa scored 20 times in Chelsea’s 2016-17 Premier League title-winning campaign, but Costa is said to have had a strained relationship with head coach Conte in the second half of the season.